The Cincinnati Bengals have quite the crowded defensive line rotation. Wehther it's obvious stars like Dexter Lawrence making huge waves, or dynamic rookies like Cashius Howell and Landon Robinson seizing the spotlight, it's easy to lose track of all the capable players in the trenches.
Cedric Johnson is somewhat of a forgotten man amongst that group. The 2024 sixth-round pick out of Ole Miss was a solid SEC player and has flashed some serious upside whenever Cincinnati has given him a chance. In only nine games last season in a situational role, Johnson managed 20 total tackles and two sacks.
Aided in part by an injury to last year's first-round pick, Shemar Stewart, Johnson has gotten some extra run at training camp and appears to be making the most of it.
Cedric Johnson is capitalizing on every opportunity despite stiff competition at defensive end
Almost a whole week before the Bengals' preseason-opening win over the Detroit Lions, The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. wrote a glowing review about Cedric Johnson's form in the early part of training camp.
Dehner highlighted how Johnson's more meaty frame compares better to free agent signee Boye Mafe than Howell, but perhaps most encouraging was the parallels to ex-Bengals star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson:
"He’s popped multiple times, bending around the edge nearly untouched, and earned a few reps against the first team as the defense rotates. Johnson’s built more like Mafe and less like the smaller Howell, but the 2024 sixth-round pick looks to be blossoming. Johnson produced a pressure once every 7.9 pass-rush snaps last season. That ranked second among Bengals edge rushers, narrowly topped by Trey Hendrickson at 7.7."
Johnson was third on the team with four total tackles in the Lions game, and per PFF, he matched Isaiah Foskey for the most QB pressures with three. That's a pressure every 5.3 snaps.
Now to pump the brakes on the hype a bit, Johnson played a good portion of the game, which doesn't bode well for his roster status. He was lined up against backups, so you'd hope to see that 7.9 snap-to-pressure rate plummet a good deal, which it did.
In any event, we shouldn't sleep on Johnson as a potential big contributor as a designated pass rusher at the very least. Lawrence and Jonathan Allen will elevate Cincinnati's defensive ends in a way prior tackle tandems couldn't before because they're so adept at pushing the pocket from the inside.
If Cincinnati has fresh-legged, athletic marvels like Mafe, Howell, Johnson, Myles Murphy, and eventually Stewart screaming in off the edge all game, that should make this Bengals d-line a legit top-10 unit.
Any contributions that Johnson can provide will be a huge bonus. It stands to reason that between himself, Stewart, and Howell, Cincinnati should get a significant boost when the starters in Mafe and Murphy need a break to rest.
The drop-off in defensive end performance between the first- and second-string units in recent years has been abysmal. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
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